1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a musical performance assisting technique for assisting a player of an electronic musical instrument in playing music.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
The musical performance assisting technique has been applied to electronic musical instruments, such as electronic pianos.
In FIG. 7, (a) shows diatonic chords in the key of C major and (b) shows diatonic chords in the key of C minor. According to the conventional musical performance assisting technique, for example, when a C keyboard key is pressed, a C major chord is sounded, on the other hand, for sounding a C minor chord, it is necessary to simultaneously press a C keyboard key and an E flat key, i.e. a minor third key, and further, for sounding a Cm7 chord, it is necessary to simultaneously press three keyboard keys, i.e. a C key, a minor third key and a minor seventh key. Through these key pressing operations, the corresponding chords are designated, respectively.
Accordingly, in the foregoing conventional chord designation, knowledge about distinction between minor and major chords and further about chord tones thereof is required. Moreover, for sounding a tension chord, knowledge about additional chord tones is required.
Further, in general, types of chords to be used are almost determined according to the key of music. Thus, if a chord different from those chords is played, sound may become unnatural as if the key is changed. Therefore, for the natural chord progression, musical knowledge is essential.